COMMENTARY:
The Cold War may be over, but no one told that to Hugo Chavez. The President of Venezuela is unabashed in his admiration for aging Communist dictator Fidel Castro of Cuba and he is also a great admirer both of former KGB-cum-FSB leader emeritus Vladimir Putin in Russia and of strongman Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. And, in the best tradition of old Soviet Russia, he is practiced at employing strident anti-Americanism in an effort to build domestic support for militarist and expansionist exploits.

His latest rhetorical flourish is to whip up fear among the Venezuelan people that the United States is planning to invade the country. According to the Associated Press, Chavez "has repeatedly warned that American soldiers could invade Venezuela to seize control of the South American nation's immense oil reserves."

In Caracas on Sunday, Chavez kept up the Anti-American rhetoric while speaking to a crowd of soldiers at a meeting where tanks and armored vehicles were decorated with banners reading, "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death! We will triumph!"

"We must continue developing the resistance war, that's the anti-imperialist weapon," Chavez told the assembled soldiers according to Associated Press reporter Christopher Toothaker. "We must think and prepare for the resistance war everyday." Those preparations apparently include accelerating Venezuela's military build-up. According to World News Australia, this week Chavez will travel to Russia, Belarus and Iran in an attempt to secure deals on a variety of weapon systems, including submarines, advanced Su-30 fighter planes, and missile systems.

Speaking to the soldiers in Caracas, Chavez said the deal was critical to Venezuela's national defense. "We are strengthening Venezuela's military power precisely to avoid imperial aggressions and assure peace, not to attack anybody." Of course, if you are the president of Venezuela, you can never be too careful. One never knows when the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago might launch an invasion.

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